Fishing net



Nov. 23, 1937. o. DAHL ET AL FISHING NET Filed June 15, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS: OSCRR DFIHL WILLIFIM FoRsYTH BLHCH HTTOQNEIS Nov. 23, 1937. DAHL ET AL FISHING NET 7 Filed June 15, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I NEE NToRS: Oscnn HHL WILL! RM Fonsw'ru BLRCH By: HTTORNEIS Patented Nov. 2 3, 1937 V V l UNITED STA ES PATENT OFFICE Oscar Dahl and William Forsyth Black, La Rochelle, France, assignors to V. D. Limited, London, England Application June 15, 1936, Serial No.85,316 In France June 26, 1935 6 Claims. (Cl. 439) The present invention relates to upwardly Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevational view of a cylinswelling fishing nets and has for its object to dedrical sledge. vise a fishing net in which the upper sheet of the Fig. 3 Ba front view corresponding to Fig. 3.

rear pocket is so constructed as to operate sub- Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a modification of 'stantially at the level of the apex of the'head the cylindrical sledge. 5 rope, whereasthe lower part of the net, which is Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing 2.

preferably entirely deprived of belly, is mainmodified embodiment of the invention, embody- V tained at a distance-above the sea bottom by aing a sledge of the so-called beam and irons type; sledge or like rigid structure, which also serves to Fig. 6 is a plan view of said beam and irons 1 prevent theescape of the fish under the mouth sledge.

of the rear pocket. l l V r .In the embodiment shown in Fig. -1, the netl.

Said sledge or rigid stru'ctu'remay have various comprises an upwardly swelling upper sheet, forms (caterpillar, beam with iron straps and bordered at the front by a head-rope ADA', proflexibleicurtain, etc.) but it preferably consists vided with floats (not shown). The rear part 175 of, a stationary orrotatable cylinder, whose axis CEFBB of the net comprises the usual neck and 5 is perpendicularjto the direction of trawl. l V the rear pocket, whose top sheet-CE operates sub- 'In, order that the upper sheet pr the net shall stantially at the level of the apex D of the head operate at the level ,ofthe apexofthe head rope rope; while the bottom part BBF is held at a.

without exertingupon said rigid structure a. liftdistance above the sea bottom by a sledge or like ing force which would be liable to raise said strucrigid structure; in the present instance, said 20 f ture off the ground, the portion of the net which structure consists of a hollow 0y Q is located above said sledge or thelike is given a axis is perpendicular to the direction of trawl. sufiicient peripheralextent. i The lower edges'ABAB of the frontupper By this construction, the rear pocket will 00- sheet are secured respectively to traction ropes cupy its normal operating position without any 22 which are attached at the front part inthe 25 tendency to raise the net off the ground, while rear of the conical devices HH,'thelatterbeing all parts of the net which usually rub upon the drawn by towing cables I-I, connected with the ground are eIiminated thus avoiding tear and otterboards and at the back part to suitable atwear. taching devices BB', located at the ends of a When the fish which "have entered the net generatrix of the cylinder, situated approximate- 30 meet with the said rigid structure or with the ly in thevertical plane containing theaxis of clouds of mud which'are raised by the friction the cylinder. of the same upon the ground, they will rise and Lower ropes 3, 3 are mounted between the enter the raised rear pocket, which will thus colrear ends of the conical devices H,-H' and atlectthe fish alone, to the exclusion of all detritus. taching devices J-J', located at the ends of'a 35 The net preferably comprises on each side a generatrix of the cylinder, substantially opposite raised traction ropewhich is attached at the the generatrix BB; said lower ropes 33 form front to a conicaldevice, and at the rear to the theground rope of the net and are adapted to upper part of the rigid structure. It further operate in contact with the ground. Wings or comprises a ground rope, which consists, oneach curtains'K--K are mounted between the use 40 side, of a cable which may be attached at one tion ropes 2, 2 and the ground rope 3, 3'. The endtjo the front or the rearpa'rtof the conical rear edges of said curtains are conformed with device, and at, the other end to the lower part of the outline of the cylinder and are attached,.for

said rigid structure; g instance, to curved angle-bars G, adapted tom- Between'lsaid tractionropesand the ground inforce said cylinder. 'i s 45 rope, which may be slackorst ret'ched, are mount- Protecting side cables 44', which are long ed suitable bands of nettingwhich prevent the enough to allow lateral bulging of the net, are fish-from escaping at the sides. attached to the net between the points A- -A' 5o -;-'I'he accompanying drawings show by way of and. the end of the rear pocket, and serve to example several embodiments of the invention, as limit any eventual tearing of the net. applied to a net without belly.: In this embodiment, the lower ropes AJ-A'J .Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a; first embodiform 'a stretched ground rope, their length bement of the inventionu- 1 ing equal to the length of the corresponding 1 Fig. 2 is a corresponding plan iew. H traction ropes AB'I-.-AB, measured from the 55 more widely, thus allowing the escape of the point A to the plane of the generatrices BBJJ. l

The back part of the net, in its upper half BFECB', forms the continuation of the front upper sheet. Its lower part, which is provided with a small belly, is attached to a small ground rope BMB' resting upon the top of the cylindrical sledge.

The advantages of this net are as follows.

No part of the net will rub upon the ground, and thus all wear is eliminated, except for the ground ropes 3, 3'v which rub upon the ground, but may be given a. great strength. Although these ropes 3, 3 are stretched, they are capable of yielding, should they catch upon an obstacle,

due to the fact that cylinder G may pivot through a certain angle about its axis; I

Should however the ground ropes 3, t brealqt the ropes 2 will'prevent the destruction of the net, and if these ropes should yield to a particu larly violent force, the tearing of the net will be limited to the wings L-L', betweenthe ropes 2 and the wing cables-4, due to the presence of theselatter, and thefront. upper sheet will remain intact. 1.

s The tendency of the bellyless nets to rise off the ground is effectively eliminated in the net according to the invention by the fact that the top part BECB of the back of the netis free to operate substantially at the level of the apex D of the head-rope. t

"The polishing: which is fc'aused by the friction of the cylinder on.the groundwill show, according to the-place where it occurs, what is the position of equilibrium'of the system during trawling, and will. thus permit the adjustment of thembles 2 and 3 in order to obtain the'optimum position of equilibrium. 7 Thecylindrical form of thesledge facilitates the passage over obstacles, without complicating the operations to be'performed by the crew. In practice, said cylinder will consist, of thin sheet metal (about 3 mm. thickness); it may be perforated, if desired, in order to reduce the weight.

By way of example, for a trawl net of normal size, the cylinder will have a diameter of about 0.50 m. and a length of about 0.70 m. Such'a cylinder, suitably reinforced; at the part which is subject to wear and also at the ends by curved angle-pieces, will weigh, including the parts for attaching the cables, from 30. to 50 kgs, V I

Another advantage of the aforesaid device consists in the fact that the rear pocket of the net is subjected to a reducedstrain, and will not rub upon the bottom, so that its meshes will open small immature fish.

: "In the modified construction shown in 4,

the roller G, instead of sliding on' the ground, is rotatably mounted in a bracket. For this purpose, its; ends are provided with journals 5 (which may consist of the .ends of a .rod extending through the cylinder, pivoted in the cheeks 6 of a strap, whose central. part 'llies adjacent the periphery "of the" cylinder) 3d, BBJJ' represent the attachingpoints of the cables 2-3. r

.'Ihis device has the advantage of reducing the resistance to forward travelythe ends of the cheeks 6 are preferably extended as shown at 6?, in order to verify the position of the appa ratus during' the fishing operation, by examining the polished 'part rubbing on the ground.

In'the-embodiment shownin Figs. 5 and 6, the

bottom part BBFlOf the net is maintained above As in'Figs'S'and vice, .whose lower end rubs upon the ground,

ground rope'type, the two cables 3-3 having a greater length than the traction ropes 22,

to which the edges of the front upper sheet are attached. Each ground'rope 3-3 is attached at the front end to the towing cable 1-1, in front of the correspondingconical device HE,

and in the rear to the corresponding iron'strap 00', at a certain distance above the ground. I Having now described our inventionwhat we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentis:

1. An upwardly swelling net comprisinga covering-sheet, a head rope along the front edge of 5 said covering sheet, a rear pocket connected to said covering sheet and having its front edge at a considerable .distance to the rear of said head rope, the top sheet. of said rear pocket being poi-- sitioned to operate substantially at the level or the apex of said head rope, and means below said covering sheet, a head rope along the front edge of said covering sheet, a rear pocketconnected to said covering sheet and having its front edge at a considerable distance to the rear of said head rope, the top sheet of said rear pocket being positioned to operate, substantiallyat the level of the apex of said head rope, and a rigid structure below said rear pocket for keeping the whole bottom sheet ofsaid rear, pocket above the sea bottom and for preventing the escape of the fish underthe mouth of said rear pocket.

3. An upwardly swelling net comprising a covering sheet, a head rope along the'front edge of said covering sheet, a rear pocket connected to said covering sheet and having its front edge at a considerable distance to the rear of said head rope, the top sheetof said rear pocket being positioned to operate substantially at the level of the apex of said head rope, and a cylindrical sledge arranged with its axis at right angles with the longitudinal axis of the net and below said rear pocket for keeping the whole bottom sheet of said rear pocket above the sea bottom and for preventing the escape of'the fish under the mouth of the said rear pocket.

4, An upwardly swelling net comprising a covering sheet, a head rope along the front edge of said covering sheet, a'rear pocket connected to said covering sheet and having itsfront edge cylindrical sledge arranged with its axis at. right angles with the longitudinal axis of thenet and below said rear pocket for keeping the whole bottom sheet of said rear pocket above the sea bottom and for preventing the escape of the fish under the mouth of said rear pocket.

5. An upwardly swelling net comprising a covering sheet, a head rope along the front edge of said covering sheet, a rear pocket connected to said covering sheet and having its front edge at a considerable distance to the rear of said head rope, the top sheetof said rear pocket being positioned to operate substantially at the level of the apex of said head rope, a transverse strap and a cylindrical sledge rotatably arranged 15 in said strap below said rear pocket for keeping the whole bottom sheet of said rear pocket above the fish under the mouth of said rear pocket, a pair of raised traction ropes attached at the rear to the upper part of said strap, and a ground rope, consisting of two lower cables attached at the rear to the bottom part of said strap, conical devices connected with the front ends of said traction ropes and lower ropes, and pieces of netting extending between said traction ropes and lower ropes.

6. A sledge for use in the construction of fishing nets, consisting of a hollow cylindrical roller having upper and lower attaching means for connection with the traction ropes and the ground rope of the net.

OSCAR DAHL. W. F. BLACK. 

